


Grains of Sand

by JoAsakura



Series: The Dark Road [8]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: I had forgotten I'd written this, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:06:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24254083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoAsakura/pseuds/JoAsakura
Summary: Set after "Hasten Lest The Gate Be Shut"- Shepard wants to examine the invaders from the Old Garden. Harbinger disagrees
Relationships: Harbinger/Male Shepard (Mass Effect)
Series: The Dark Road [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/21612
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Grains of Sand

**Author's Note:**

> I apparently wrote this in 2017 then forgot about it on Tumblr. I found it looking for something else.

NEWGARDEN/HELEUS CLUSTER/Five million miles from the Nexus:

“No, I forbid this.” Harbinger loomed like a shadow between of the glow of the black hole at the heart of Helus and the considerably smaller ship before him. It’s hull was gleaming silver, striped with burning red and patched with ragged veins of gold. 

In their shared gestalt, The Shepard glared up at his massive black column, scarred face pulled into a look the older Gardnener hadn’t seen since his beloved had been human. It was strangely arousing.

“You what?” Shepard folded his arms. He had taken the conversation to private after Harbinger had let loose a claxon blare not heard since the Last Harvest, but they could both feel the press of curiosity against their closed channel.

“I. I **forbid** you taking on the exploration mission. You are too valuable to our people. _To me_. You are our _GUIDE_.” Harbinger said with what sounded like perfect logic and calm and not at all peculiar desperation.

“Ok. Assuming you could stop me, old ship, I’m the most familiar with their ways. I’m the one who can pass undetected through their crowds and try to understand what the fuck a bunch of Milky Way species are doing here, and why there’s dark matter spikes everywhere in this damn cluster.”

“We can harvest those without anyone seeing. Nox is monitoring the exclusion zone and Reach’s team has perfected remote combines. The native species and the colonists will never notice except for a decrease in the strands.” Harbinger pulled in closer, long fingers on his shipbody curling. “Let Scout do this. This is her function. Her _passion_.”

“Harbinger, I...” Shepard started.

“ _I KNOW YOU._ YOU _WILL_ BREAK YOUR OWN LAWS, SHEPARD.” There was another claxon blare behind the words, vibrating against the hull of the Guide’s shipbody. It was not a war cry, but something approaching a sob. “YOU WILL ENGAGE WITH THEM, AND I ... WE..” He fell silent for a moment. “Let whatever drama is playing out among these small ones do so without us.”

The Guide blinked, the blue glare of his eyes flickering for a moment, and then he stepped into the roiling darkness of Harbinger’s core form. “Harbinger. You’re not going to lose me.” He said gently stroking the suggestion of human face within the soldifying folds of the other’s cloak. “But we've talked about this. If there’s even one Leviathan orb on that station, we are going to have so many more problems than just the Smalls trying to kill all of us. The Human Shepard stood against the Leviathan's control. I can as well. And I am _not_ going to risk Scout or the other pods. I’m not going to lose our children. And I’m not going to risk you of all ships, for the same reason.”

“Shepard. Lights in the sky.” Harbinger relaxed fractionally as Shepard let him draw his shipbody in close. The bigger vessel's hull trembled. “You know the laws.”

“They’ll never even know I’m there.” Shepard whispered against him. “I promise.”


End file.
